A book I fell in love with reading
This book was gifted to me by my dear friend on my birthday.
Lately, I have been into self-help books to really understand the parts of my life that I haven't discovered or a new way of doing things and see if I am able to incorporate that — so this was a perfect book to really stretch out my wings into learning all sorts of interactions, different aspects of life, how to approach in certain situations and how to perceive life the way it is.
It was written in a comedic way and I read it as if it was an elder brother who was giving me advice.
Here are a few of my takeaways from the book.
The power of good small talk
- We always find ourselves in situations where we are placed into a group and sometimes it gets really really awkward. No one says anything, most likely because it's hard to think about what to ask or just need little courage. I have always been the shy person in the room, I think time to start honing this skill.
“The best thing you can do to make small talk is to ask other people questions about themselves”
- Andy brings up a good point to start asking people about themselves and be genuinely interested in them.
“The longer you can get people talking about themselves, the more they will like you”
Next time I am in a group. I can be the first one to ask —
- Hey, what sessions are you attending this event? Nice to meet you, my name is ….. I work at …..[company]. What about you? How do you like your role?
- What are you all up to this weekend? What do you guys do for fun? Do you play any sports? Who is your favorite team?
Always negotiate
- I have always felt grateful for having a job and never thought of negotiating. Even in the early stages, I knew what my work ethic was and knew how much I would bring to the table but I was always afraid of what they were going to say.
“Most managers expect you to negotiate because that’s how it works. It also shows you’re assertive and, in their eyes, it says you will probably be a stronger employee.”
Andy put it in a great way. No one knows our true value except us, it's important to be direct and show confidence that you are worth it. Because once the salary is finalized it's going to be a slow growth afterward, try to start at a maximum number as possible. Even if they say no, comes the fact that you least tried.
Making Your Resume Damn Great
- Many of us went through tons of revisions on our resumes only coming to know that most of them are irrelevant or unnecessary. After being in the industry for several years, Andy pretty much curates the important aspects in the resume, why it should be done the way it's done and it makes a lot of sense. It's hard to pull out this information anywhere else.
“A resume must show you can do the job and get results. That’s why they hire you. No one should read your resume and come away wondering what it is you’re good at”
- One-page limit — If you have more than one page “That tells your potential employer you’re bat at deciding what information is important”
- Work history — “Include every job that's relevant to where you are applying”.
- List objective successes — “Show any quantifiable things you can brag about during your time at the job” . Things like I helped save 80% of the company’s costs due to my automation.
- Skills — Include both hard and soft skills.
“Hard skills are that generally require training. These skills are the ones you can prove you have some aptitude with — Don’t include phrases like proficient or excellent to describe your skill levels, because they don't mean a damn thing.”
“Soft skills are about how you work with others. They include public speaking, communicating with others, leadership and group skills, and problem-solving”
- Education — “Unless you went to Harvard or another fancy-pants college, don't put this up top. Job experience is more important because the resume is all about proving you can do the job an employer wants. You also don't need to include your grade point average unless it was amazing”. I learned this recently through a friend’s resume.
- References — “Whenever I see resumes without any, it screams to me this person isn’t confident in his ability to find others to speak highly of him”. He mentions three references are good enough.
- Miscellaneous — “Your resume should show you’re not just competent at your job, but also active in other parts of your life. A well-rounded person is a desirable hire”. Usually, my website has a list of my hobbies, I use the miscellaneous section for my certifications.
Other Resume tips
1. Design your resume - "If you want yours to stand out, make it look different from every other Microsoft Word-Looking Piece". I try to look for ideas from the internet and use Microsoft publisher to create a simple one from scratch
2. Proofread It - "Have about ten friends look it over to find your typos and mistakes." You can usually get it reviewed by your professors, parents who work in the industry, acquaintances, mentors, connections on Linkedin, and also on reddit.
3. Put your name in the resume file name - "Andy_Boyle_Resume.pdf" Its easier to find in their system.
4. Send your resume as a PDF
5. Your resume is always changing - "Dust it off every six months and update it"Cover Letter
- I always thought a cover letter was an extension to a resume to where I can list more of my personal details and abilities relating to my technology work, I have learned a cover letter is more than that. Here is what Andy had to say—
“A cover letter is this — the story of how you crush it in the workplace, proving that the company should hire you because of your badassery.”
“You do these things by showing your talents instead of telling about them”
A cover letter contains six paragraphs
- Anecdote — Start off with a scenario
“The tax deadline was in a week and we still had one hundred clients to go. Working at a small firm, that normally meant long nights. But because weeks earlier I’d developed a fast workflow for getting our client’s information int our system, we finished them all in just one afternoon”
“It's showing I'm good at my job. It's proving if you hire me, you get a person like this.”
Gimme the job — Be assertive and state that by hiring me for X position, I am able to do Y things because I have Z abilities.
“You’re stating explicitly what the job opening is, reaffirming a connection between your talents and this job opening.”
Bing — Elaborate on how you attained your abilities listed above
“When I was a systems engineer at NumberOneSuperOKWorldwide, after reading the manual for our software I discovered we were using a less efficient way of processing orders. So I implemented the correct procedures, and trained my coworkers on them, saving us all more than five hours of work a week.”
Bang — Listing your next skill. It can be a skill that contributed to helping a company streamline a process and slash the costs of the business.
Bongo — Final skill is about your excellence. If your work led you to any achievement or awards you would explain it here.
Closing Suck-up — Last paragraph should include how your abilities fit the company’s current works or help with future projects
“At Tax-Job-Money-Money-Money Limited, I know you take great pride in your work, just like me. Your recent work on the Henderson estate, which won the Texas Accounting Aficionado golden calculator, is just the kind of project I could dive into. We would do some great work together. Thanks for your time.
How to be confident in any situation
- I always had problems with presenting or having conversations with higher management. Words don't always come the way they should and I would stop in the middle doubting my thought process. Andy’s tips will come in handy in the future
“If you are confident, sound like you know what you’re talking about, you’ll actually think you’re not completely full of shit.”
Here are his six tips
Visualize your success — before you do anything, play it in your mind how well it's going to go. Vividly picture yourself killing it, how the audience is really interested, and in the end, how happy you felt for doing it.
Stand like Superman — sit up straight or stand up in a nice posture. Practice it somewhere if needed. Stand like a “Superman” or “Wonder Woman”. It makes you look attractive and makes you feel stronger.
Smile — smiling helps us calm down, we look more pleasant, and sets a good mood for the audience. Who doesn’t like a person who smiles? If anything it makes it a worthwhile time.
Slow down — “Your words become more powerful if you speak slower” enough said.
Keep your body open — Similar to Superman and Wonder Woman pose. Do not cross your arms or scrunch into a ball. Have eye contact, and your chest open, it shows your confidence and power level.
Tell yourself you are doing great — no one will be there to tell you that you are doing great except yourself. Remind yourself that every time you feel less confident. Things don't always go the way they should, everything happens the way it does, and it's up to us how we change after that.
How to get good at damn near anything
- This once shouldn’t be a surprise. But I fail to realize it every time. How is this person so good at speaking? How did this person get so good at coding? He makes really good music, how is that possible? We let one failure dictate if we want to quit or even the thought of failure prevents us from even starting.
“The main way you get better at anything is by doing that thing over and over and over.”
“The greatest painters weren’t great because they could paint awesome at birth. They became great because they practiced their craft frequently.”
- Surround yourself with people better than you — spend time with experts in your field to learn tips and tricks, think in their shoes, interact with them, and listen.
- Take classes — Classes are a way great way to meet more people who are like-minded and this might spur conversations that you are interested in. As classes are taught by experts, it's a great way to ask them any questions and clear any doubts. Classes are just a google search away — some of them are even community organized.
- Know you’re are going to suck — Andy said it in a way that I will not forget:
“You will still think you suck, because your tastes are always ahead of your talents”
So always know that it's rough starting out but with time the satisfaction of your progress leads the way.
- Set goals for yourself — Make your goals quantifiable. “I will read once a week”. “I will walk 1 mile with my dog”. “I will play tennis with my friend for half an hour every other day”. Whatever you are trying to do, track it.
- It’s okay to decide you don't wanna do something anymore — After a couple of years of enjoying the process and you have built something out of it, it's okay to stop after reaching that satisfaction. You can always come back later.
“You can get to a level of ability you’re happy with and you don't need to push yourself further”
It’s always good to document what stood out for you from every book. I hope you took away something from this book like I did.
